This blog is dedicated to the many many Europeans who, despite continuous disinformation campaigns, do not believe the worst of the Jews (malign and secret Jewish power); who do not disguise anti-Semitism behind the language of anti-Zionism; and who know that Israel embodies the best in democracy.

Friday, 29 May 2009

"The Polish government and the Israeli Postal Company issued a common stamp, featuring the famous Polish Jewish freedom fighter Berek Joselewicz, who commanded the first Jewish military formation in modern history and was a colonel in the Polish army during the uprising of Poland against imperial Russia in the late 18th century."

JERUSALEM/WARSAW (EJP)---A Chopin and Gorecki concert performed by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra last Sunday in Jerusalem marked the official end of the Polish Year in Israel.

During the past 14 months a multitude of cultural events, exhibitions, performances and various art projects were presented to the Israeli audience by Polish artists, often in concert with local Israeli talents.

The Polish Year in Israel was a venture of the Polish Ministry of Culture and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, coordinated by the Warsaw-based Adam Mickiewicz Institute, which aims to promote Polish culture abroad.

While the institute promotes Polish culture worldwide, the yearlong event held in Israel was unprecedented in its magnitude, as the Polish government made a special effort to strengthen Poland’s ties with the people of Israel and to present them with a more wholesome view of Poland today.

The opening event, performed in April 2008, was a premiere production of 'Madame Butterfly' directed by Polish Mariusz Trelinski, conducted by Daniel Inbal of the Israeli Opera and performed by various local Israeli talents.

The joint Israeli–Polish productions continued throughout the year featuring some notable names such as the Israeli Habima Drama Company, performing together with the Wspolczesny Theatre from Wroclaw.

The cultural events were enthusiastically received by the Israeli audience, with theatre and opera halls overcrowded with visitors during many of the shows.

To mark the end of the year of events, the Polish government and the Israeli Postal Company issued a common stamp, featuring the famous Polish Jewish freedom fighter Berek Joselewicz, who commanded the first Jewish military formation in modern history and was a colonel in the Polish army during the uprising of Poland against imperial Russia in the late 18th century.

The Sunday’s closing concert was attended by Poland’s first lady Maria Kaczynska.

Further cultural cooperation between Poland and Israel is still to come. Next week, the Biuro Podrozy Polish theatre company from Poznan will perform an extravagant production of 'Macbeth' at the first International Theatre Festival in Tel Aviv.

Standpoint Magazine carries an article this month chronicling the severity of antisemitism in the banlieues of Paris and in wider French society, and the attempts of Jewish communities in France to confront this bigotry. The murder of Ilam Halimi, in what appears to be an antisemitic murder, highlights the severity of the situation.

Whilst French Jews, and wider French society, worry about the rise in antisemitism, antisemitic French comedian Dieudonné is claiming that France is controlled by Zionism and Zionist interests.

Dieudonné is leading an "anti-Zionist" list of candidates for the upcoming Euro elections in Ile-de-France, consisting of Far Right Front National members. The French government have tried, and failed, to ban Dieudonné’s party. Dieudonné is linked with Holocaust deniers and the French Far Right.

Dieudonné’s candidates include French sociologist Alain Soral and Yahia Gouasmi, who claims that "behind each divorce, there is a Zionist."

"Christians are strangers in their own homes. They are the Palestinians of France. Christians, wake up!" Indeed, Dieudonné is winning support across French society. Some Christians, it seems, are taking Gouasmi’s advice:

Francis, who described himself as a "Christian student", joined Dieudonne out of a hatred for "multiculturalism" after deciding he “could no longer identify with the values of French society."So, does Dieudonné’s anti-Zionist party really care about Christians? Alain Soral, talking about the persecution of Christians in Algeria, claimed:

"… yesterday, Phillipe Val criticized the Catholic Church for not drawing attention what’s happening in Algeria to the so-called "Christians" who are persecuted. But what he didn’t say was that it’s not Catholics who are being persecuted in Algeria, but Christian evangelists who are agents of the CIA; neoconservative agents."

In 2008, BBC News reported that four Algerian converts to Christianity were fined by the state for "worshipping illegally", and BosLifeNews reported the imprisonment of Christians in Algeria and the closure of churches.

Clearly persecution of Christians in Algeria is widespread, yet Soral only sees persecution of 'evangelists', whom he equates with CIA agents.To complicate matters further, Soral bemoans the US involvement in Serbia and praises Serbian "patriots":

Serbia, the first Christian country to have been bombed by a “Christian” coalitian in Europe, since 1945, has still not finished healing its wounds. In the grip of American occupation, Albanian mafia and Saudi money, the Serbian patriots nevertheless continue to resist. Fiercely …Soral sees Serbian Christians as patriots heroically fighting crime and corruption, but sees Algerian Christians as neocons, evangelists, and CIA agents. Gouasmi sees French Christians as the 'Palestinians of France.'

Dieudonné’s candidates at best present a mixed message about Christians (and consider what kind of message he sends out to Jews and Muslims). Then again, Dieudonné’s campaign isn’t really about any of this – it’s about freeing France from the grip of the Zionists.

Whilst the pro-Palestine movement in France has commendably rejected Dieudonné, it is nevertheless important not to ignore the threat which Dieudonné poses in the upcoming European elections, and to listen carefully to what he is saying and whom he is campaigning with.

Thursday, 28 May 2009

“Amnesty’s publications in the region portray Israel as among the worst human rights violators in the Middle East (second only to Iran). In 2008, Amnesty issued more in-depth reports (9) and “Wire” articles (22) on Israel than any other country.”

* In 2008, Amnesty again focused disproportionately on Israel’s response to aggression from Gaza, and led the NGO campaigns accusing Israel of “collective punishment” and “war crimes.”

* Amnesty’s publications in the region portray Israel as among the worst human rights violators in the Middle East (second only to Iran). In 2008, Amnesty issued more in-depth reports (9) and “Wire” articles (22) on Israel than any other country.

* The data indicate that media attention and ideology, in contrast to universal human rights, drive Amnesty’s agenda. Amnesty’s anti-Israel press releases consistently reflect the organization’s role in influencing international public opinion.

* Amnesty promotes an overwhelmingly Palestinian narrative of events, blaming Israel for the end of the Gaza ceasefire and the weapons’ smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border.

* The section on “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories” employs highly exaggerated language and absurd allegations. Amnesty accuses Israel of “unprecedented use of force” in Gaza, “virtual imprisonment,” and bringing the Palestinians to the “brink of human catastrophe,” and charges that “impunity remained the norm for Israeli soldiers.”

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

"The Belgian Foreign Ministry has sent a letter to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni claiming that Belgium does not recognize Israel's claim to the villa, basing this on the fact that it had been declared absentee property 60 years ago. The letter said Belgium would be willing to discuss the issue after Israel reaches an accord with the Palestinians over Jerusalem. No such accord is on the horizon." --------------------------------------------------Clément Weill-Raynal writes that Léo Peeters, the consul general of Belgium in Jerusalem, is probably the only 'diplomat squatter' in the planet ... (Léo Peeters consul de Belgique à Jérusalem, seul 'diplomate squatter' de la planète: "However, this dispute is only a matter of civil law. But the Belgians continue to argue that they will only pay rent on the day the question of Jerusalem is settled by international agreement and when all the Palestinians who have been dispossessed for sixty years are compensated. The new owner, David Sofer, now claims more than two and a half million euros in arrears. An Israeli court will, within fifteen days, consider the case. But the Belgian Foreign Minister has indicated that no Belgian representative will appear before the Israeli courts.")--------------------------------------------------Source: article by Etgar Lefkovits in TJP (Dec. 22, 2008)

A luxurious Jerusalem villa that has served as the residence of the consul general of Belgium since 1948 is at the center of a bitter legal dispute over unpaid rent, Israeli officials said Monday.

The issue, which has drawn in government ministries, could turn into a diplomatic spat.

The story begins in 1948, when the building known as the Salameh Villa in the city's upscale Talbieh neighborhood was declared an absentee property and transferred to control of the Israeli Custodian General.

Considered one of the city's most beautiful structures, it had originally been built for an affluent Christian Arab contractor, Constantine Salameh, whose family apparently signed a rental agreement with the Belgian government around the time of the War of Independence.

The officials said the family received rent for the property during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1983, the Salameh family sold the villa to the State of Israel. The sale was mediated by Israeli businessman David Sofer, who was granted an option to purchase the property, which he did last year.

Multiple attempts by Sofer - and previously by the state - to collect rent from the Belgians went unanswered, the officials said.

"They ignored us, as if we didn't exist," one official involved in the case said, noting that the Belgians were in one of Jerusalem's most desirable villas rent-free.

Earlier this month, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann acceded to a request by Sofer that he be allowed to sue the Belgian government for nonpayment of rent. Friedmann's permission to bring suit, as well as to seek an eviction, was required under the terms of the sale to Sofer, the officials said. They added that by law, a property owner can claim seven years of back rent, which in this case amounts to around NIS 10 million.

The property, which is surrounded by gardens, is valued at about $15 million. The Belgian Foreign Ministry has sent a letter to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni claiming that Belgium does not recognize Israel's claim to the villa, basing this on the fact that it had been declared absentee property 60 years ago.The letter said Belgium would be willing to discuss the issue after Israel reaches an accord with the Palestinians over Jerusalem. No such accord is on the horizon.

Following consultations with the Justice Ministry, Livni responded that the real estate dispute was strictly a legal issue with no political ramifications, the officials said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said Monday that the only reason the ministry had stepped in was because a foreign consulate was involved.

The Belgian consulate general in Jerusalem declined comment on Monday.

"Spain's congress on Tuesday reportedly passed a resolution to limit the jurisdiction of investigative judges.

The move follows pressure from foreign governments such as the US, China and Israel, which has strongly criticized Judge Fernando Andreu's ongoing investigation into the 2002 assassination of Hamas terrorist Salah Shehadeh in Gaza, in which 14 others were also killed.

The resolution confines judges to cases with a clear Spanish connection and excludes them from probing investigations already under way in the country that allegedly committed the crime, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The move effectively reins in Spain's investigative judges from dealing with crimes against humanity allegedly committed around the world. The investigating judges of Spain's National Court have been employing the so-called principle of universal jurisdiction - which holds that for grave crimes such as genocide, terrorism or torture, suspects can be prosecuted in the country even if the alleged offenses were committed elsewhere - to 13 cases involving events that took place in other countries, from Rwanda to Iraq.

Under the new resolution, however, cases taken up by the judges would now have to involve a Spanish citizen or the accused would have to be on Spanish soil, the WSJ reported. The Spanish government will now introduce legislation, which the major parties in Congress have agreed to back, according to the report. It wasn't clear whether the changes would apply to existing cases or only to future ones.

At the beginning of the month, Judge Andreu of Spain's National Court decided to continue the investigation of Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon and five other former top security officials for their part in the Shehadeh assassination, despite Spanish prosecutors' attempts to dissuade him from doing so on the grounds that Israel was still investigating the attack. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said the Shehadeh case "makes a mockery out of international law."

Thursday, 21 May 2009

"The difference between Burma and Israel is that in Burma the opposition sits in jail, in Israel it sits in parliament."Israel, Burma and the boycott campaign

Even as the anti-Israel lobby is mustering for boycott, the average Norwegian is increasingly questioning the wisdom of singeling Israel out for critizism. One enlightened reader of Dabladet, a Norwegian daily, writes in a letter which is as short as it is eloquent:

"Imports of processed wood from Burma has increased by 67 percent in one year. This does not bother the Boycott-Israel-party SV (The Socialist Left). The difference between Burma and Israel is that in Burma the opposition sits in jail, in Israel it sits in parliament."

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

"The flow of European government funds, including from the EU, to political organizations such as B'Tselem and Ir Amim for use in the political war against Israel on the issue of Jerusalem is one of the most damaging aspects of European funding directed against Israel." (Prof. Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor's executive director)

"Israeli human rights groups and other NGOs that are heavily funded by the European Union are promoting Palestinian positions on the capital, a Jerusalem-based research organization said on Tuesday.

Several groups, including B'Tselem and Ir Amim, that are ostensibly devoted to further coexistence, are "pursuing an overtly anti-Israel agenda in a narrative war that seeks to rewrite 3,000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem," NGO Monitor said.

Both NGOs label Israeli residents of the Old City's Jewish Quarter as "settlers," as part of an overtly "political campaign," despite the presence of Jews in the area dating back to before the establishment of the state in 1948, and the West Bank security barrier is portrayed by B'Tselem as an attempt to annex land, while disregarding Israeli security concerns, the watchdog group said.

The EU paid NIS 1.7 million of Ir Amin's NIS 4m. 2007 budget, NGO Monitor said. The British Embassy contributed an additional NIS 800,000, and the Norwegian government gave NIS 165,000.

.

Similarly, the EU funded nearly 10 percent of B'Tselem's NIS 7.8m. budget in 2007 with its €120,000 (about NIS 675,000) contribution, again according to NGO Monitor.

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"The flow of European government funds, including from the EU, to political organizations such as B'Tselem and Ir Amim for use in the political war against Israel on the issue of Jerusalem is one of the most damaging aspects of European funding directed against Israel," said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor's executive director..

"Similarly, these NGOs should not be abusing their moral claims on human rights and coexistence in order to support efforts to turn back the clock to the dark days of 1948-1967, when no Jews could live or even visit the Old City and the Jewish sacred sites," he said..

B'Tselem on Tuesday denied that it had any political position on Jerusalem "or any other issue," and accused the NGO watchdog group of repeated "sloppy, irresponsible" reporting..

"B'Tselem's only concern is that Israel respect its legal obligations and ensure the basic dignity of everyone living under its control," B'Tselem executive director Jessica Montell said. "Advancing equality and human rights in Jerusalem is a clear Israeli interest, and one that we all can support, regardless of our political views.".

In contrast, an Ir Amim official said the group was indeed seeking to advance a political agenda, and was not an organization geared to promote coexistence. "Without a doubt we have differing views on a range of issues, but this is the right of an NGO in a democratic state," said Haim Erlich, an Ir Amim official. "No one has ownership over the Israeli interest.".

The nearly 50% EU funding that the organization received in 2007 according to the NGO watchdog group was "within the framework of Israeli law," he said."

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

"the Palestinians enjoy nearly twice as much support (27%) as the Israelis (14%)"

"A significant majority of the French also said they believed anti-Semitism was a serious problem in their country, which has seen a number of violent attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions in recent years. Fully 69% said anti-Semitism was a problem, with almost two-thirds of that group (41% of all French respondents) saying it was a "very big problem." Only 8% said it was not a problem at all."

"A wide-ranging new poll of French adults has found that French views of Israel, while not favorable to the Jewish state, are more nuanced and complex than Israelis usually believe.

While Israel lags behind the Palestinians in overall support among the French, it is Hamas leaders - not Israel - who receive greater blame for Gaza's humanitarian situation. Similarly, while they express clear opposition to Israeli military operations in Gaza, the French oppose boycotting Israel by a factor of three to one. A large majority of the country acknowledges a real problem with anti-Semitism, and Iran comes in as the top stumbling block to peace in the region in French popular opinion.

The poll, made available to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, was conducted for The Israel Project by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a major polling and strategy firm, during the first two weeks of April. It surveyed 853 adults throughout France and 451 opinion makers, and has a margin of error of 3.36%.Overall, the French do not view Israel favorably. More than a third (35%) of French respondents said they viewed Israel unfavorably, while just a fifth (21%) said they viewed the country in a positive light.

Similarly, the Palestinians enjoy nearly twice as much support (27%) as the Israelis (14%), though the largest group of respondents (32%) said they did not support either side.

It is not surprising, therefore, that a large majority of the French disapproved of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in January: 77% opposed the action, while just 3% said they "strongly approved" of it.

Yet when pollsters raised other issues, they discovered nuances in the French views on Israel. More French respondents blamed Hamas leaders for Gaza's humanitarian situation (36%) rather than Israeli leaders (26%).

Fully 83% feel that a two-state solution is the "only realistic solution" to the conflict, but an identical 83% said it was "not realistic right now."

Though the French are skeptical of the chances for peace, blame does not rest too heavily on Israel's shoulders. Indeed, the poll seemed to indicate that the French viewed all parties - with Iran at the forefront - as responsible for the conflict.

The most widely cited obstacle to peace in the poll was Iran's "arming and funding of terrorists" (79% of respondents said stopping this activity was "very important" to "establishing a lasting peace"). Next in line was the Palestinians' shooting of rockets into Israel (75%). Israeli military incursions in Gaza came in as the third-most cited obstacle (73%), but this was followed closely by the Arab states' refusal to "accept Israel's right to exist" (69%) and the continuing "teaching of hate" in Palestinian schools (65%).

A significant majority of the French also said they believed anti-Semitism was a serious problem in their country, which has seen a number of violent attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions in recent years. Fully 69% said anti-Semitism was a problem, with almost two-thirds of that group (41% of all French respondents) saying it was a "very big problem." Only 8% said it was not a problem at all.

Asked to explain the source of the anti-Semitic sentiments in the country, some respondents said it was found primarily among Muslim immigrant groups, while others said it was inspired by events such as Operation Cast Lead.

The French do not trust Iranian intentions in the region, according to the poll. Besides the aforementioned support for terrorism, fully 76% of the French believe the Iranian nuclear program is focused on developing nuclear weapons. Just 14% disagree with that assessment.

In fact, the French increasingly see Iran as a direct threat to their country. Fully 73% of respondents believed an Iranian nuclear weapon would be a threat to France, up from 64% in December 2007.

Yet while this sense of danger has inspired a majority of the French to support increased sanctions (61% vs. 30% opposed), respondents were strongly opposed to military action against Iran, even multilateral action. The poll showed that 79% wanted either diplomacy or increased sanctions, while just 13% recommended multilateral military strikes to stop Iran's nuclear program.

Respondents said they were specifically aware of Iran's desire to destroy Israel, but a majority (68% to 23%) opposed an Israeli strike against Iran."

Sunday, 17 May 2009

"But the Antwerp Samson must also be understood as part of the ongoing campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel. Essential to this trend is the claim that the Jews aren't really the Jews. In order to treat Israel's right of self-defense against terrorists and states that seek to destroy it as inherently immoral - a standard no rational person would seek to impose on any other country - you have to impose a new identity on the Israelis. The most popular way of doing so is to claim that the Jews are Nazis. Such claims have become popular in Europe as well as throughout the Muslim world. Such juxtaposition is both offensive and an absolute falsehood, since Israel doesn't seek to exterminate the Palestinians as the Nazis did of the Jews, merely to try and stop them from committing mayhem."

The operatic perversion of 'Samson' is a symptom of cultural decline and hate.

"The impact of opera on contemporary politics is fairly limited these days. Unlike the 19th century, when new operas by composers like Giuseppe Verdi would often be seen as important political statements, the contemporary lyric theater is usually the preserve of an elite that most people don't care about. But every once in a while something can happen at an opera house that makes its way onto the news pages.

Such an event happened earlier this month when a new production of Camille Saint-Saëns' biblical set piece Samson et Dalila had its premiere at the Flanders Opera in Antwerp. A two-man directing team, Omri Nitzan, an Israeli, and Amir Nizar Zuabi, a Palestinian, conceived the new staging of the opera. But rather than a conventional rendition of what was written as a fairly static work for the theater, Nitzan and Zuabi decided to turn the piece on its head. In their version, the Philistines oppressing the Hebrews were portrayed as Israelis and the Hebrews as the Palestinians.

According to The New York Times this included scenes in which "Jews, in fancy dress, dance atop a shiny, black, two-tiered set, oblivious to the swarm of robed Palestinians under their feet." Elsewhere in the show, "Dalila's Jewish handmaidens, in red underpants, sprawl on their backs, legs spread in the air, helping to seduce Samson" and "Israeli soldiers clad in black humiliate blindfolded Palestinians and shoot a Palestinian child, who reappears as a kind of leitmotif during the opera." And after "Israeli soldiers dance orgiastically with their phallic rifles," the character of Samson, wearing a "dynamite-loaded vest" ends the opera with a suicide blast.

SHOCKING AS this may sound, in the world of opera today such "artistic license" is far from rare when it comes to putting on the classics. Anyone entering an opera house these days is as likely to see the works of Mozart, Verdi or Wagner set in a time and place that the composer never envisioned as they are a traditional staging. Political agendas, almost always with a left-wing slant, as well as the sort of vulgarity seen in Antwerp, are commonplace.

The rise of a generation of directors who commit vandalism rather than bringing new insights is a fact of life in contemporary opera, especially in Europe. It is a symptom of the same deconstructionist school of thought that has turned the study of literature on its head with pseudo-scholars claiming there is no such thing as objective truth and that the text of any work can be separated from its original meaning with impunity.

BUT THE ANTWERP Samson must also be understood as part of the ongoing campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel. Essential to this trend is the claim that the Jews aren't really the Jews. In order to treat Israel's right of self-defense against terrorists and states that seek to destroy it as inherently immoral - a standard no rational person would seek to impose on any other country - you have to impose a new identity on the Israelis.

The most popular way of doing so is to claim that the Jews are Nazis.

Such claims have become popular in Europe as well as throughout the Muslim world. Such juxtaposition is both offensive and an absolute falsehood, since Israel doesn't seek to exterminate the Palestinians as the Nazis did of the Jews, merely to try and stop them from committing mayhem.

But when Nazis aren't available, turning the tables on the Jews vis-à-vis the Palestinians will do just as nicely. Yet one of the problems that vandals such as Nitzan and Zuabi run into when they parachute their ideology into innocent operas is that the text often contradicts them. This requires their Belgium audience (which, unlike an audience in say, New York, probably understands the French language in which the piece is sung) to believe that when in the first act Samson rallies the Jews to overthrow their Philistine oppressors, "Israel romps ta chaîne" - Israel break your chains - he doesn't really mean "Israel" but Palestine. This is interesting because in this oratorio-like opera, the Jews are the good guys but don't get very much interesting music to sing. By contrast, the Philistines get all the good numbers including a really stomping Bacchanale just before the Temple of Dagon comes crashing down on their heads.

This artistic atrocity aroused the ire of Antwerp's Jewish community, but when one Jew expressed his outrage and fear that the production would stir up anti-Semitism to the general director of the opera, reportedly he was told "that if the situation for Jews were really so precarious here, they should leave."

Interestingly, New York Times critic and columnist Michael Kimmelman reacted to this invitation for the Jews to leave Europe with dismay about the bad taste of the comment but not to slander against the State of Israel and supporters. "Rage," Kimmelman wrote about the incident, "is a perfectly sane response to the Israeli occupation. And all art is political in the end."

One can argue in response that had the Palestinians been even marginally interested in sharing the country and living in peace with the Jews, they might have accepted any number of peace offers over the course of the last century.

Even more to the point, Gaza, the setting of the final scene of the opera, is currently occupied by Hamas, not Israel.

THE INVERSION by which the Islamist murderers of Hamas bent on annihilation of Israel become the soulful Jewish sufferers in "Samson" is more than just another play on the familiar David becoming Goliath theme that has gained traction ever since the Jews started winning wars of self-defense rather than being slaughtered en masse. Put in the context of an opera whose point is the triumph of faith over violence and sex, it is a way by which contemporary Jews can be stripped of any connection to their homeland and their heritage.

The fact that one of the persons responsible for this is an Israeli Jew does not make it any less misleading. That is especially true when this sort of work gives a boost to the revival of anti-Semitism in Europe.

Kimmelman thinks this sort of a Samson could not have been produced in New York, where presumably the Jews are not ready to be told to flee. As it happens, the production of the piece performed at the Metropolitan Opera since 1998 does take the opposite point of view. That version, created by English Jew Elijah Moshinsky, has the effrontery to portray the Jews in Samson as, well, Jews. Though no uniformed Nazis are seen onstage, Moshinsky's direction evokes the Holocaust with Jews in religious garb being oppressed by an enemy whose prime characteristic is a primitive and violent paganism.

This, too, may be a case, as Kimmelman says, that proves that all art is political. The difference is that one director's vision is based on the truth and the other on a lie. The trouble is, in an intellectual milieu in which those concepts no longer exist, it is all too easy to imagine a world in which Israel and the Jews can be eliminated too."

The writer is executive editor of Commentary magazine where he contributes to the Contentions blog at www.commentarymagazine.com. jtobin@commentarymagazine.com

Friday, 15 May 2009

"PARIS (JTA) -- A Belgian satirical weekly criticized Belgian society for accepting a cartoonist who has insulted Jews and mocked the pope. In its cover story Thursday, the French-language Père Ubu weekly asked why Ben Heine -- "an anti-Semite of the worst kind," according to the article, who also "crudely" caricatured Pope Benedict XVI in April -- was still accepted in mainstream Belgian society.

The paper said Heine was a regular contributor to a Christian daily, La Libre Belgique, was paid to speak [in fact to draw] at a rally for the moderate cdH Christian political party [in fact they dropped the Christian label a few years ago, and call themselves "humanists"] and until recently was hired as a history and religion Catholic school teacher.

Heine participated in a 2006 drawing competition in Iran on Holocaust denial and was censored for comparing Israeli politicians to skull-brandishing Nazis. A recent cartoon showed a crucified Jesus wearing a condom on an erect penis. Here, nobody gives a damn," about Heine’s views and whether he is marginalized, the paper editorialized.

The weekly reproduced some of Heine’s controversial cartoons in the issue, including the most recent showing the pope throwing away a condom and commenting, "I have no penis anyway.""

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

"A doctoral dissertation on the subject by historian Bjarte Bruland contains details about the property of a woman - who was murdered at Auschwitz along with her children - restoration of which was held up because it was impossible to establish in what order the children had been put in the gas chamber, and therefore it was not clear from a legal standpoint who inherited what."

"In the history of the Jewish people, 2,000 Norwegian Jews merit no more than a footnote, but an exhibition now showing at Beth Hatefutsoth Diaspora museum in Tel Aviv presents their story as a microcosm, a window onto the vagaries of fate that befell all European Jews.

Up until 1851 Jews were not allowed to live in Norway, by dint of the second clause in the country's constitution, which also barred Jesuits and monks from migrating there. Once the ban was repealed, Eastern European Jews made their way to Norway; most of them actually wanted to go to America, but did not have the money to get that far. They tried - with great difficulty - to assimilate into local culture and become Norwegian patriots. A few posed for photographs dressed in the Norwegian army uniform; one kept the flag that was sewn on to the sleeve of his uniform when he played for the national soccer team.

Their story, as displayed in Beth Hatefutsoth, ranges from a 1920 notebook, attesting to the fact that a boy named David Fein made great effort to learn the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, to anti-Semitic posters that were pasted up around towns.

During World War II, the pro-Nazi government of Vidkun Quisling confiscated the property of all the country's Jews, and the Germans deported nearly 800 of them to death camps. The catalog for the exhibition, held under the auspices of the Royal Norwegian Embassy to Israel, states that about a decade ago, Norway became the first country to complete the process of restoring property and paying compensation to Jews for their losses and suffering caused during the Nazi occupation.

Beneath this diplomatic phrasing lies a half-century of abuse. Like the Swiss, the Norwegians prevented the restoration of many Jews' property by means of all kinds of regulations and bureaucratic trickery.

A doctoral dissertation on the subject by historian Bjarte Bruland contains details about the property of a woman - who was murdered at Auschwitz along with her children - restoration of which was held up because it was impossible to establish in what order the children had been put in the gas chamber, and therefore it was not clear from a legal standpoint who inherited what.

A few hundred Jews live in Norway today. These include ex-Israelis, members of kibbutzim who moved there when the female volunteers they met here returned home."

Monday, 11 May 2009

"Instead, whether by oversight or by deliberate action, three of the four Muslim invitees taken by Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering included Muslim representatives who have links to organizations affiliated with the international Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organization known for supporting jihad against the West." (Moshe Kantor, European Jewish Congress President)

Source: article by Yossi Lempkowicz in EJP"BRUSSELS (EJP)--- European Commission President José Manuel Barroso deplored Monday that some religious Jewish leaders boycotted a meeting of EU officials and European religious leaders over the inclusion of "anti-Semitic" extremist Muslim groups.

The meeting was co-hosted by the presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament.

"The commission regrets the fact that some of the invited Jewish religious leaders have decided not to participate in this EU dialogue," Barroso said at the press conference.

"This meeting aims to foster dialogue and build on common ground, regarding the importance of this economic and financial crisis and we believe it is important to contribute."

He added: "It is time for unity and not for isolation on such an important topic."

In fact, the conference of European Rabbis (CER) declined the invitation to attend the interfaith gathering with the support of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), while a representative of another group, the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE), was present.

"It is inappropriate that organizations such as the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe, or individuals who in the past made, or endorsed, anti-Semitic statements and who are clearly linked to the radical Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood should be present at such gatherings," said Rabbi Aba Dunner, executive director of the CER.

Rabbi Levi Matusof, from the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, told a press conference after the meeting at the European Commission:"This is a dialogue between the religious leaders and the European institutions, it is not an intra-religious dialogue between the religious leaders."

The European Jewish Congress (EJC), an umbrella political representative group for Jewish communities around Europe, supported the CER’s decision to boycott the EU meeting.

"At the very root of any meaningful interfaith dialogue is the critically important issue of tolerance, acceptance and mutual respect. Sadly, today’s European interfaith gathering reflects neither that spirit nor its practice," EJC President Moshe Kantor said in a statement.

"Instead, whether by oversight or by deliberate action, three of the four Muslim invitees taken by Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering included Muslim representatives who have links to organizations affiliated with the international Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organization known for supporting jihad against the West".

"This undermines the important interfaith efforts that so many European leaders have worked to strengthen," the EJC said.

The Jewish group particularly mentioned the presence at the meeting of Prof. Tariq Ramadan, who, it said, "is a divisive and conflicted individual who has been known for promoting and defending the 'clashes of civilizations' ideology."

"There is simply no excuse for those who either preach hate or are affiliated with extremist religious organizations to be invited to any official interfaith gathering in Europe, especially under the patronage of the Presidents of the European Union and the European Parliament," it said."

Sunday, 10 May 2009

"There is something slightly troubling over this anecdote. Can we reasonable suspect that Israeli ambassadors would establish a tactic of regularly accusing their host nations of being Europe’s most anti-Israeli country? And why, in a book of 342 pages, does Støre only make such an observation of Israel ?"

Discrediting and poking fun at Israel has become a European speciality.

"Jonas Gahr Støre [photo] is Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. In November 2008 he published a book on Norway’s foreign policy - "Making a difference" (Å gjøre en forskjell, Cappelen Damm). On page 136 in the chapter "The Middle East" he writes the following (unauthorised translations):

"During my first meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Norway, Myriam Shomrat, the Israeli message was clear: Norway is the country with the strongest anti-Israeli attitudes in Europe. I stood in doubt and wondered about the analysis. Some months later I discussed the Middle East with my Irish colleague in Dublin. I quoted the Israeli ambassador. "That must be wrong,” said the Irishman, “The Israeli ambassador here in this country says that Ireland is the worst!". I think others have received the message."

There is something slightly troubling over this anecdote. Can we reasonable suspect that Israeli ambassadors would establish a tactic of regularly accusing their host nations of being Europe’s most anti-Israeli country? And why, in a book of 342 pages, does Støre only make such an observation of Israel ? Be that as it may, visit Wikipedia’s section on Støre and you find the following:

"He also makes an amusing revelation of Israeli diplomatic tactics in Europe. In her first meeting with Støre the Israeli ambassador Myriam Shomrat stated that Norway is the country with the strongest anti-Israel attitudes in Europe. Støre doubted this, and talked about it with his Irish colleague in Dublin. He could tell of how Israel’s ambassador had said precisely the same thing about Ireland."

It is unfortunate that Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs be quoted in this fashion. One of the salient features of Wikipedia is that it allows users to edit its contents. This site proposes that Støre makes use of this feature as soon as possible."

Friday, 8 May 2009

"During a protest against Israel's Operation Cast Lead organized by the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs [Turkish] that attracted 10,000 protesters in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window. [...] If the police unit had not removed the flags, "it could have come to a big escalation" and "jeopardized life and limb" of those present, Richter said."

Source: article by Benjamin Weinthal in TJP"A legal opinion submitted by law professor Jürgen Vahle to the Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia state in late April upholds the propriety of a police ban on and seizure of two Israeli flags during a violent anti-Israeli demonstration in January.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Jerusalem Post, asserts that "the entry by force in two apartments" and "the securing of the flags was lawful."

During a protest against Israel's Operation Cast Lead organized by the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs that attracted 10,000 protesters in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window.

According to Vahle's report, the protesters threw "chunks of ice, pocket knives and cigarette lighters" at the Israeli flags.

North Rhine-Westphalia's domestic intelligence agency (Protection of the Constitution) cited in its 2008 report the anti-Semitic and militant Islamic group Milli Görüs, the organizer of the anti-Israeli protest, as a threat to the democratic structure of the federal republic.

The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears for his safety, told the Post that two weeks after the removal of the flags "a couple of young folks" hollered in front of his apartment, "Damn Jew, come outside."

He displayed the Israeli flags in January to "show solidarity with a republic [Israel] in the Middle East that is surrounded by dictators but is viewed as a pariah state. I was in Israel and find the land super."

Given the background of the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs, he asked, "why was a police unit of 280 officers present at a demonstration where 10,000 protesters" were present?

Vahle's report drew mixed reactions from police union officials. Frank Richter, chairman of the police union (Gdp) in North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Post that the "special relationship between Israel and Germany is good" but the entry into the apartment was "legal according to the police statute."

If the police unit had not removed the flags, "it could have come to a big escalation" and "jeopardized life and limb" of those present, Richter said.

However, another "legal opinion could reach a different result" and there "were alternatives" to removing the flags, Rainer Wendt, head of the police union (DPolG), told the Post. Wendt criticized the Vahle report and said, "Everything that is lawful does not mean that it is right." It was "not part of police conduct to rip down Israeli flags," he said. According to Wendt, the seizure of Israeli flags should be "assessed politically and psychologically."

German police had a "special responsibility" toward the Jewish state and the confiscation of Israeli flags damaged the German-Israeli relationship, he said."

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

"What concentration camp ever launched a single rocket at its guards, let alone over 8,000, as the Gazans have done? What Nazis ever provided oil, water, food and medicines to camp inmates, as the Israelis have done? What camps had shops stocked from floor to ceiling with goods, or are studded with expensive villas and apartment blocks? What camp inmates would ever have set about destroying £14 million worth of greenhouses provided for their well-being, as the Gazans did in 2005?"

"ISRAEL WOULD would also be a perfect place for Benedict to denounce another churchman who has indulged in a similar distortion of the truth. Cardinal Renato Martino [photo], head of the Vatican Council for Justice and Peace, recently bought in to a smaller but equally vicious lie, namely that the people of Gaza live in "a big concentration camp." This sits next to other popular lies, chiefly that Israelis/Jews are really Nazis who kill babies for sport, or that there has been genocide, even a holocaust in Gaza.

What concentration camp ever launched a single rocket at its guards, let alone over 8,000, as the Gazans have done? What Nazis ever provided oil, water, food and medicines to camp inmates, as the Israelis have done? What camps had shops stocked from floor to ceiling with goods, or are studded with expensive villas and apartment blocks? What camp inmates would ever have set about destroying £14 million worth of greenhouses provided for their well-being, as the Gazans did in 2005?

The "concentration camp" claim is a blatant lie and an insult to the millions who really did suffer and die in the camps, and the pope must denounce it and chasten the cardinal who has promoted it. Only transparency can bring eventual peace to the region.

To claim, as so many do, that there has been a genocide or a holocaust in Gaza is not merely wrong, it is indecent. According to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, the annual growth rate in Gaza is about three times the world average. The population there has grown by almost 40 percent between 1997 and 2007. What genocide has ever increased the numbers of a population? Yet that lie allows marchers round the world to call Israelis "Nazis" and "Zionazis," and cartoonists to draw hooked-nosed Jews in SS uniforms. We all know the consequences when similar lies were told about the Jews in the 1930s and '40s. There must be no question this time that a pope will denounce these fictions for their incitement to the oldest of evils.

THE POPE must also address the widespread claim that Israel is an "apartheid state." This also is both ludicrous and dangerous. There are no apartheid laws in Israel, Arabs are not excluded from restaurants, cinemas, concert halls or swimming pools, but serve in parliament and on the Supreme Court. The claim is another vicious lie and, given the Church's commitment to anti-racism, it is fitting for the pope to expose it.

Passing beyond the lies (of which there are dozens more), an urgent matter on the pope's agenda must surely be the plight of Christians in the West Bank and Gaza. Harassed by militant Islamic groups, the Christian population there has been dwindling. In 1990, Christians made up 60% of the population in Bethlehem; today, a mere 19 years later, they number just 20% and that figure is shrinking rapidly. Christians in the Palestinian territories have fallen in numbers from 15% of the population in 1950 to less than 1% today. Calls have been made for their extinction, and attacks are regularly made on institutions and individual Christians. More and more Christians pack their bags and flee. In Israel, their numbers have risen from 34,000 in 1948 to more than 140,000 today. If the pope does not speak out and make this an issue of international concern, the bombings, the beatings and the intimidation will continue, and before very long the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem will be left to the tender mercies of Islamic Jihad.

THERE IS ONE other thing Pope Benedict should consider doing before he leaves Israel. In Haifa, on the slopes of Mount Carmel, stands a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of the gardens, shrines and international headquarters of the Baha'i religion. It is a beautiful place, one of the loveliest on the Mediterranean coast. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where these places would be safe. Iran, a country that threatens to wipe Israel off the map, is the original home of the Baha'is, who form its largest religious minority. There the holiest Baha'i shrines have been bulldozed into rubble. Since the revolution, Baha'is have been imprisoned and executed, and made the objects of severe persecution. If the pope could stand in the gardens in Haifa and proclaim his abhorrence of all religious persecution, it would send out a firm message to bullies like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and those, like Hizbullah and Hamas, whom he controls.

There is a deeper message that the pope is well-situated to convey, which is that the truth is greater than the lie, and that there can be no peace while there is falsehood. Only when the Israelis and the Palestinians can engage in complete honesty with one another, and only when the deluded marchers walking on European streets chanting "Hamas! Hamas! Jews to the gas!" have their eyes opened to the enormous deceit that has been perpetrated on them will a real and lasting peace begin to grow in the Holy Land. It's a great opportunity. I pray it is not too late for Benedict to take it."

The writer is a former lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies, the author of several reports on radical Islam and currently the editor-designate of an international journal, the Middle East Quarterly. This piece first appeared in the Catholic Herald.

Monday, 4 May 2009

"Even at the UN tragedies are not equal. [...] If in January the war in the Gaza Strip, rightly, provoked a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, punctuated by nocturnal meetings of the Security Council, Sri Lankan civilians die in relative indifference." Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

"Dagens Næringsliv is Norway’s largest business daily. Yesterday many readers found the following editorial a refreshing change from the same-same of Akersgata (Norway’s Fleet Street):

"Social commitment - The tragedy of Sri Lanka is entering its temporarily last act

During the next few days the last little piece of land still controlled by the LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, will probably be conquered by Singalese troops. After almost three decades of war 70,000 people - at least - are dead. The island’s commercial life and environment have been severely injured. Millions of Tamils have been displaced and exiled. The problem, integrating the Tamil minority, is unsolved.

This should concern us. Norwegian authorities, led by our present Minister of Development Erik Solheim, has been strongly committed to creating peace. The conflict is in many ways an enlarged edition of the conflict in the Middle East, where also Norway was engaged in peace attempts, with about the same miserable result.

LTTE behaves as brutally as Hamas and Hizbollah - at least, with suicide bombing and recruitment of child-soldiers as its specialities. At the same time the Singalese governments’ warfare makes Israel’s conduct against the Palestinians appear mild and humane.But even though the sufferings are greater, we are less concerned. Media coverage is far more muted. Academics and artists do not sign petitions, musicians do not arrange supportive concerts. Concerned doctors are busy elsewhere. When 3,500 people participated in the demonstration in Oslo earlier this month, there was hardly a white face in sight.

There is, obviously, a difference between Tamils and Palestinians - and there is a difference between Singalese and Jews. Whatever the reason may be.""-----------------------------------------------------------Source: LE BLOGNADEL

From Le Monde :

"Even at the UN tragedies are not equal. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are learning it at their own expense. For three months in the north-east of the island, they have been trapped in heavy fighting between brutal government forces and the unscrupulous Tiger rebellion. If in January the war in the Gaza Strip, rightly, provoked a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, punctuated by nocturnal meetings of the Security Council, Sri Lankan civilians die in relative indifference.

The UN lukewarm reaction is difficult to explain. According to the Organization's unofficial figures, unverifiable in the absence of observers, nearly 6,500 people have already died - five times more than in Gaza." (April 30)

"The crime is almost perfect. Close to 6,500 Sri Lankans have died, according to United Nations' estimates, and no corpse has hit the front pages of newspapers or TV screens. The authorities in Colombo have effectively banned all witnesses from the war zone. " (May 2).

Gilles William Goldnadel asks: "At this point, if I humbly point out that the Sinhalese are not Jews, will I be told again that I am overreacting ?"

"By portraying a religious Jew raping a woman in a show about Israel, the state-funded Flanders Opera is in danger of encouraging anti-Semitic stereotypes, leading members from Belgium's Jewish community told Haaretz.

The highly-controversial scene appeared in the premier of "Samson and Delilah" in Antwerp on Tuesday evening. The contested show was created by two Israelis, who turned the biblical tale of Samson into a reverse-role protest against Israel's occupation of Palestinians.

Belgium's Jewish community has condemned the opera directed by Omri Nitzan and Amir Nizar Zuabi for dressing Philistine conquerors in Western garb while Hebrew fighters like Samson wear Arab clothes. The rape scene shows a Philistine religious priest dressed up as a religious Jew while raping Delilah, who was Samson's lover. The rapist was the only man in the show wearing a skull cap. The Flanders Opera could not be reached for a comment.

Samson lived in the 11th century BCE as a partisan under occupation of the Philistines - a powerful and technologically-advanced people of European roots. The Bible says he died at the hands of his occupiers, while killing many of his captors. This, according to the opera's creators, makes him "the world's first shaheed," or martyr.

"From conversation with the creators, I gather the rape scene was meant to protest religious coercion inside Israel," said Michael Freilich, editor-in-chief of the Dutch-language Jewish affairs newspaper Joods Actueel. "But most people in Belgium don't make such distinctions. To them a man wearing a skull cap in a show about Israel is a Jewish Israeli."

Another image from the show showed occupying soldiers clad in black combat suits and armed with M-16 assault rifles stroking the weapons while placing them horizontally against their crotches. Israel's ambassador to Belgium, Tamar Samash, was invited to the event but eventually canceled. Sources involved with the embassy's work in Belgium said the ambassador felt it was "inappropriate" for her to attend on Tuedsay night, the eve of Israel's 61st anniversary.

"I have not seen the show so I would rather not comment on the specifics," Eli Ringer, vice-chairman of the forum of Jewish Organizations of Belgium, told Haaretz. "But I gather it portrayed a man wearing a skull cap in the ugliest way possible and of course this is not helpful to combat anti-Semitism."

Ringer also said that he is concerned about the use of holy scriptures to promote political causes. "History tells us this is not a good idea," he said. A number of members of Jewish organizations attended the premier to report on it. They said the production provoked members of the crowd to boo the cast at certain points. This was confirmed by Dutch radio. The Jewish onlookers said the jeers did not come from the delegation. Meanwhile, most Belgian media offered negative criticism of the opera on artistic grounds rather than ideological ones. "If you go to the opera, close your eyes because the music is wonderful," one critic wrote.

Another connoisseur said the role reversal is too complicated to follow because the original text of the opera was not changed to fit it. "Imagine seeing a production of Little Red Riding Hood where a wolf who is dressed up like a little girl meets another little girl while he is on his way to visit her granny," the opera-lover said."

Friday, 1 May 2009

"[...] the sole ambassador in Israel who backed Ferrero-Waldner was the French [Jean-Michel Casa]. He was quoted as saying that her statements reflect the European public's feelings."

Are "European public's feelings" supposed to mean that, like the famed "Arab street", there is now in Europe an anti-Israeli "European street" ? Only that it's not called "street" but "European public's feelings".

"A Foreign Ministry official has been warning European countries that unless they curtail criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, Israel will block the European Union from participating in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians. The main target of the offensive is EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner*, who recently called for a freeze in upgrading ties with Israel over its peace process policies. Several days ago, the deputy director for Europe at the Foreign Ministry, Rafi Barak, began calling European ambassadors in Israel regarding the attitude toward the new government. The first conversations were with France's Jean-Michel Casa, Britain's Tom Phillips and the Chargé d'Affaires of the German embassy.

Barak sharply protested the criticism by European ministers and senior EU officials about Israel's government. Barak singled out Ferrero-Waldner in his rebuke and said her statements were troubling in their form, style and timing.

"For some weeks now, we have been telling everyone in Europe that Israel's government needs time to reformulate policies, and not to begin a war in the press," Barak told the diplomats.

He also noted that the European Union had not made an official decision on freezing the upgrading of ties, and therefore it was unclear what gave Ferrero-Waldner the authority to make her statements. [...]

"Israel is asking Europe to lower the tone and conduct a discreet dialog," he said. "However, if these declarations continue, Europe will not be able to be part of the diplomatic process, and both sides will lose."

In a telegram to the Israeli missions in Europe, Barak briefed the Israeli diplomats on his conversations and noted that the sole ambassador in Israel who backed Ferrero-Waldner was the French. He was quoted as saying that her statements reflect the European public's feelings.

A political source in Jerusalem noted that Ferrero-Waldner was sharply criticized by European officials, and one European foreign minister said in a private conversation that she "is causing damage to European foreign policy in her attacks on Israel"."-------------------------------------------------------*Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner who is being so critical of the Israeli governement is Austrian. Maybe she should be paying a little more attention to what's going on is her own country.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme (2008)

"We must be wakeful for a new anti-Semitism, sometimes too easy trivialized. We must be wakeful for a new anti-Zionism that is a hidden anti-Semitism that in reality has not accepted the existence of the state of Israel, even sixty years after its foundation. Europe cannot turn its back on Israel. For Israel is linked to the history of Europe, for more than one reason. We cannot speak about the foundation of the Jewish State without mentioning the Holocaust. There is more, the dream of a new Eretz Yisrael was born in Europe, in the hearts and minds of Theodor Herzl and his followers in the 19th century. And since many centuries, in many thousands of European Jewish households, Pesach, the Jewish feast of Easter, ends with the wish: "Next year in Jerusalem!""..........................................

Charles-Joseph, Prince de Ligne (1801)

"It seems to me that this 1800-year-old anger has lasted long enough."